The Toy Box

Retro Spins: Judas Priest - Defenders Of The Faith

When we last left the history of Judas Priest, the band had just released their 1974 debut album, Rocka Rolla on Gull Records. However, upon its release, the album was a flop, garnering negative reviews. In dire financial straits, the band requested a monthly payment of £50, which equates to £676.42 in 2026. Facing their own financial challenges at the time, Gull declined the request.

Though the reasons are disputed, depending on who you ask, John Hinch would leave the band in 1975. The most commonly agreed upon reasoning was that the other members were looking for a drummer who could match their evolving energy of music. Further, he had musical differences and personal conflicts, particularly with guitarist Glenn Tipton. Alan Moore, who had previously joined and quit in 1972, would return to the band to replace him.

With finances tight, the guy restricted themselves to one meal per day and even took part time jobs while recording their second album, 1976's Sad Wings Of Destiny. Though the band would embark on a tour of the UK in support of its release, the album would struggle, being overshadowed by the emerging punk rock spreading across the county.

Continued tight finances at Gull frustrated the band, leading to Moore quitting again, this time permanently. Fortunately, Sad Wings Of Destiny had caught the attention of CBS Records. With the help of new manager, David Hemmings, Judas Priest signed to the label, finally receiving a significant budget to record with. Unfortunately, the split from Gull required them to forfeit their rights to their two previous albums, including all demos.

Judas Priest would release their major label debut, 1977's Sin After Sin. However, without Moore, who actually quit during the initial recording sessions, Simon Phillips was brought in, who recorded all the songs which appeared on the album. While they offered him the position permanently, he would decline, resulting in Les Binks taking the role.

Both Stained Class and Killing Machine would be released in 1978, the latter receiving a title change to Hell Bent For Leather in the USA and released in 1979. Their three albums under CBS would not only chart in the UK, but become certified gold. Further, their latter two albums would also chart in the USA on the Billboard 200. It would be around this time that the band would also adopt their leather and studs image.

1979's Unleashed In The East would be the bands first of many live albums, and their first to go platinum. However, the album itself would be criticized for its studio overdubbing and enhancements. However, what would come from it would be the retooling of previous studio tracks to their faster and heavier live sound, which became more popular versions among fans.

At the time Les Binks was already feeling underappreciated for his contributions to the band, and more or less didn't feel like a full member of the band. Coupled with management suggesting he forego his fees for the Unleashed In The East album, he quit. He would be replaced by former Trapeze drummer, Dave Holland. The lineup of Rob Halford, K.K. Downing, Glenn Tipton, Ian Hill, and Dave Holland would go on to record six studio, and one live album between 1980 and 1988.

Among those releases was 1984's Defenders Of The Faith. For those of you keeping up with my listening sessions, you may be aware that Judas Priest kind of surprised me, and have become a band I'd call myself a fan of. While I've yet to hear an album that I'd consider perfect, what I haven't heard is anything I'd call bad.

Defenders Of The Faith delivers another solid entry in the Priest discography. While I knew nothing from it going in, standouts for me were Jawbreaker, Rock Hard Rock Free, The Sentinel, Love Bites, Eat Me Alive, and Night Comes Down. Not bad for an album I randomly picked up at a used CD shop.

What surprises me most of all is how excited I still am to go from album to album. Typically, when I've tackled an entire era discography of an artist, the music has its ups and downs, but even when good, leads to a bit of fatigue and burnout. I've yet to reach that point with them. I'm just as thrilled to hear tomorrow's album, 1986's Turbo as I was to hear todays, and all the ones that preceded it.

Beyond that, I've not much to say.

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Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.

Comics Corner: The Mighty Thor 391

Title: The Mighty Thor
Issue Number: 391
Release Date: May 1988

Highlights

First appearance of Eric Masterson, and Aloysius R. Jamesly
Spider-Man notes how great it is to be back in his red and blue suit
Mongoose stands in a dark hotel room, a room which he hasn't left in a few months, waiting for his prey, who he says has just returned to the city
Reference is made to The Mighty Thor 351, and The Amazing Spider-Man 283
Thor returns to Earth, and though he plans to return to the building he used to live in, he finds it's been torn down
Thor resumes his Earthly identity of Siguard Jarlson, and finds his friend Jerry Saprisiti, who gives him a job working construction with him
Despite being halfway built, Aloysius R. Jamesly tells the construction workers that it doesn't meet with his vision, so they should tear it down, and start over
Mongoose attacks Siguard, and knocks him off the building, luckily Spider-Man is swinging by, and catches him
As Spider-Man confronts Mongoose, Siguard runs for Jerry's trailer, retrieves his hammer, and transforms into Thor
Thor and Spider-Man tag team Mongoose, but the villain disengages, telling him his master didn't hire a fool
As he retreats, Mongoose knocks out the supports of the building under construction, sending it toppling

Thor catches the building, and mustering all his strength manages to hold it up as Spider-Man jams girders underneath it

Low Points

It's an unnecessary cameo

You could pretty much replace Spider-Man with any other hero cameo, and the story would have played out the same

Oddities

None

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Retro Spins: Judas Priest - Screaming For Vengeance

Judas Priest was never on my want list when initially creating it, and remained relatively out of mind until July of 2022, when one day, "You've Got Another Thing Comin' popped into my head. It was like a lightbulb that had turned on. "Oh yeah," I said to myself. "I know that song." Searching for it, I found that the 1982 album Screaming For Vengeance was not only where it was from, but that it was relatively cheap. So, I picked it up.

The band remained no more of interest to me beyond it, but when I came across 1980's British Steel, and 1986's Turbo at a used CD shop in January of 2024, I picked them up. Again, life went on, and Judas Priest remained generally just another part of my ever-expanding CD collection, but not a priority to dig into further. August of 2025, and another used CD store visit added 1984's Defenders Of The Faith to my collection, but still, no interest in really looking into the band.

Enter April 2026. I'm going through my list of albums to play for a Retro Spin post, and I decide that it's time to focus in on them. It made sense. I was presently in a heavy metal phase, picking up bands and discographies based on what a co-worker was recommending, as well as others which I happened to come across in diving deeper into the rabbit hole. It was finally at this point that I looked into just how many albums the band had in the 80's and got around to actively completing my collection with 1981's Point Of Entry, and 1988's Ram It Down.

I was hyped to hear this one, and playing through it, I got everything I was expecting. What I did notice was that the tracks were harder than those of 1980's British Steel, and 1981's Point Of Entry. Whereas those focused on mainstream pop rock radio friendly type tracks, Screaming For Vengeance was punchier, more so geared towards straight up hard rock.

Overall, it was enjoyable from start to finish, and at this point, I'll even go so far as to call myself a Judas Priest fan. For me, the standout tracks included The Hellion, Bloodstone, Fever, and of course, You've Got Another Thing Coming. But again, as a whole, I liked it from start to finish.

Tomorrow I'll swing back around to the history of the band, picking up where I left off with my post on 1981's On The Run. I'll also be running through their 1984 released Defenders Of The Earth. It's been a good time so far, and I'm down with keeping it that way.

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Retro Spins: Judas Priest - Point Of Entry

Hot on the heels of their decade debut, 1980's British Steel, I'm jumping into 1981's Point Of Entry. My previous listening session had been a bit of an eye opener. Not only did I really enjoy what I had heard, but I realized that Judas Priest had songs I had completely forgotten about. What became more interesting to me was digging into the band's history and finding out that none of the original members who formed it were even part of it when they recorded their debut album, 1974's Rocka Rolla.

The band was formed in 1969 by lead singer Al Atkins, bassist Brian "Bruno" Stapenhill, guitarist John Perry, and drummer John "Fezza" Partridge. This lineup would shift up relatively quickly, as Perry would take his own life at the age of 18. Ernest Chataway would fill the roll, but as part of their history, it's noteworthy that future guitarist Kenneth "K.K." Downing would also try out for the band at this time. While they initially started out as Earth, they would soon adopt, and take their name from the Bob Dylan tune, The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest. Fred Woolley would join in 1970, replacing Partridge.

After recording a demo, the band obtained a three-record deal with Immediate Records. Unfortunately, prior to them being able to record anything, the label went out of business. The band would split up in 1970.

Later that year, Atkins would come across the band, Freight, who were rehearsing without a singer. It featured K. K. Downing on guitars, his childhood friend Ian "Skull" Hill on bass, and drummer John Ellis. He'd join them, and they'd adopt the name, Judas Priest. While they performed throughout 1971, but 1972 Ellis quit, and was replaced by Alan Moore. Prior to the end of the year, Moore too would quit and be replaced by Chris "Congo" Campbell.

Judas Priest signed on with Black Sabbath bassist, Tommi Iommi's management label, Iommi Management Agency, where Atkin continued to write material for the band. However, with a family to support, and bills to pay, he left in May of 1973. Campbell too would depart around this time, with both being replaced soon thereafter by drummer John Hinch and vocalist Rob Halford. With Atkin's departure, Judas Priest officially had no original members in the band.

After performing their first tour of Europe, Judas Priest returned to England and signed with Gull Records. At the suggestion of the label, they took on a second guitarist, Glenn Tipton. The lineup for their 1974 debut, Rocka Rolla consisted of Rob Halford on vocals, Gleen Tipton and K.K. Downing on guitars, Ian Hill on bass, and John Hinch on drums. Though a 1987 remastered release would also include credit for Alan Moore for his drums on the bonus track, Diamonds and Rust.

At the rist of this post becoming a novel, we'll pause there and get into the album.

Point Of Entry kicks off with Heading Out To The Highway, a solid into track to the album. That rocking sound that I familiarized myself with in their previous record was definitely present, and I was all in on it.

As expected, I didn't know any of the tracks on the album. At least, that's what I thought. For some reason, when Troubleshooter started up, I could have sworn I've heard it before, but if I did, I can't pinpoint when or where. Still, I feel in the back of my mind that I know it from somewhere.

Unfortunately, coupling all of the history above together did serve to take a lot of my attention away from the album as a whole, and while I didn't necessarily hear anything I would call bad, I also wasn't really attuned to it all to say what I heard. It was nice background noise, I suppose, but that's also not what I was wanting to get out of it. I may need to take some time and listen to this once again, but that's not going to happen any time soon. I have too many albums to get through.

My next stop is 1982's Screaming For Vengeance, which is actually the first album I got from Judas Priest, and the only one I owned for several years before finally branching out. I'll talk about all of that tomorrow, and then with 1984's Defenders Of The Faith swing back around to their continued history.

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Baltimore Comic Con Part III: Keith Williams

Keith Williams gets a massive shout out for being the inker on the Web Of Spider-Man in the mid to late 80's. It's because of this that the very first Spider-Man issue I ever "read" was done by him. Yes, way back in Web Of Spider-Man 38, Williams helped to set my mind ablaze with comic mania, and start a long journey, which I'm still on today.

As such, I really wanted to do something nice for him. No, not just set that massive stack of books in front of him to sign.

Rather, when I learned that he had gotten his start at Marvel Comics by sending in the infamous Marvel Try-Out Book, I tracked a copy down for him. I then took it a step further, and got his boss, Jim Shooter to sign it. This was made all the more important and impactful because Jim passed away just two weeks later.

The moment of receiving it was so great for Mr. Williams that it actually made him cry. His wife assured me those were happy tears, cause I was like, "Oh no, what have I done?"

His wife was right beside me taking photos of the moment as it unfolded.

After talking a bit more about Jim Shooter, he put on a grin, and said, "Let me get focused," and dug into signing. When I initially walked up to his table, I held off giving him the book. First, I said, "I brought a few things for you to sign," then proceeded to make the massive pile for him out of two cases of comic holders. He laughed, and said, "Did you bring all of them that I ever worked on?" To which I said, "Yep." Mind you, it really wasn't all of them, because he'd signed a few for me in the past.

When he got to issue 63, I asked if I could have a remarque on it, to which he added this sweet Spider-Man head to the cover.

Truthfully, these aren't all "must have signed" books for me. Instead, it's because Mr. Williams is so reasonably priced, $5.00 per signature, that it's easy to take volume to him. In fact, I even told him, "Your prices are so great, and I can't choose, so I brought them all." Then I laughed, and said, "The lesson here is to raise your prices so that it forces people like me to be more selective." He laughed as well and said he wouldn't.

As he was signing, Keith made mention that he also worked on Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars as a background artist, but uncredited. He said that wasn't the only thing. Many a night he was in a hotel room with other artists cranking out pages to catch up on deadlines and was uncredited on a lot of books as a result. I told him, "Well, I guess I know what I'll be bringing with me when you're at Big Lick NOVA next year (P.S. he's scheduled to be there in 2026, and that signing hopefully has already taken place by the time this goes live). So, hooray, more Keith Williams autographs are coming soon!

For me, this pretty much wrapped up the main signatures I was at the show for. Like I said, I didn't want to take as much as I had in the past, and while this post may look like it contradicts that, the reality is that it was about 1/3 less than what I usually took. I hope to cut that back even further in future shows.

While I could have been done for the day, and gone on my way, I had my convention book tucked in my bag, with the intensions of grabbing a few more signatures for it before tapping out. It was something I missed out on doing last time, and I wanted to make sure I didn't do so again.

Check back tomorrow for my final post from Baltimore Comic Con 2025.

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Retro Spins: Judas Priest - British Steel

Today I'm off on a new journey to listen to a little band by the name of Judas Priest. You may have heard about them. Over their brief career they've released a couple studio albums which faired pretty okay with critics and the general public.

By 1980's British Steel, Rob Halford and company had released five studio albums, contributing to the forging of the road of heavy metal created by Black Sabbath. Though they had a steady following of fans, and their first entry into the decade would also become their highest charting album to date, they had not yet broken out into mainstream. Nor was that going to happen just yet.

Judas Priest would reprise the more commercial sound they adopted with their previously released Killing Machine (1978) and drew inspiration from AC/DC on some tracks after supporting them on tour in 1979. In conjunction with this, they also abandoned some of the dark lyrical themes which had been prominent on their previous releases. To further move towards mainstream success, the band focused on shorter song lengths with hooks, in an attempt to push radio play.

Guitarist J.K. Rowling...er....K.K. Downing would say that the band had a lot of fun recording the album in the former home of Beatles drummer, Ringo Starr. Not yet in a digital age of sampling, the boys had to find unique ways to incorporate the layers of sound they were looking for, which included smashing milk bottles, shaking cutlery trays, swishing pool cues, and whipping guitar strings against suitcases. Downing would joke that since it was Ringo's home and cutlery, that essentially the Beatle was responsible for the creation of the metal sounds on their album.

British Steel would be unleashed among the time that was seeing a surge in new wave British Heavy metal, released alongside Saxon's Wheels Of Steel, and Iron Maiden's self-titled debut. Critically, it was well received and later credited for kickstarting heavy metal's glory days. It's also gone on to be listed by Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Metal Albums Of All Time and also noted as one of the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

What I came to find out was that there were songs from Judas Priest which I had forgotten over time. In particular, from this album, that was Living After Midnight. Personally, I bought it for Breaking The Law and wasn't really expecting to know anything else beyond that.

Unlike my previous listening sessions of Megadeth and Iron Maiden, which catered more so to song length and thrashing metal, Priest slows things down. They're not afraid to let the drums thunder, and the guitars squeal, but what they do in all of that is deliver cohesive vocals and lyrics that you can actually understand.

Though I only found one other standout track, United, as a whole, the album was a solid listening session. I'm totally down and excited to hear more from the band, which actually surprises me. I really didn't expect to enjoy this one as much as I did.

There's not much noted, history wise, between 1980's British Steel, and 1981's Point Of Entry. Rather, it's summed up as essentially saying, "Then Judas Priest made another album similar to this one." While that's not much to go on, I'm excited that it's more of what I just heard. That's where I head to tomorrow.

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Retro Spins: Iron Maiden - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son

It's noted that the continued change in sound from Iron Maiden's previous album, Somewhere In Time remained prevalent in their final release of the decade, Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son. The problem with this is that I didn't hear said change in the previous album.

At this point, I think I've hammered home that my overall experience with the band has not really paid off. The music's been a bit lackluster, especially in the wake of Bruce Dickinson taking over vocal duties of Paul Di'Anno. They've not become a favorite of mine, and candidly, I haven't seen the appeal to this legacy act of thrash metal.

Regardless of my opinion, Iron Maiden has proved time and time again to be a powerhouse in the industry, producing top charting albums, and sales certifications ranging between gold and multi-platinum. The point being, as much as I consider myself an 80's music aficionado, I fully understand that tastes vary, and opinions are subjective.

The band approached their 1988 album as a concept, basing it on the 1987 novel Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card. It would be their first to include keyboards, played by both Steve Harris and Adrian Smith. Singer Bruce Dickinson would also get reinvigorated, with his ideas being embraced and included in the material. You may recall from yesterday's post that all the ideas he brought to the tale for 1986's Somewhere In Time were all rejected by the remaining members.

Following suit of previous releases, Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son shot up the charts in multiple countries, becoming their next number one in the UK, and peaking at number twelve on the Billboard 200 in the USA. A support tour was inevitable, seeing the band perform one hundred three shows, including the West Germany, Netherland, Italy, Spain, and France portions of Monsters Of Rock. Michael Kenney would be brought in to perform the keyboard portions for the tour.

Having zero expectation, I fired up the album, prepared to spend the next forty-five minutes half listening, and half twiddling my thumbs. "Not so fast," said Iron Maiden. "Check this out!"

Moonchild starts with a strumming acoustic guitar before delivering a synthesizer intro, overlaid by guitars and drums. From there, the beat kicks in, and the song takes off. Wait, what was happening? I was into it, hook, line and sinker.

From there, the album just kept punching me in the face with solid track after solid track. So many, that while I initially began jotting down tunes of note, Infinite Dreams, Can I Play With Madness, it soon became apparent that I was actually enjoying the whole thing. Where the heck has this Iron Maiden been?

I'm sure many metal purists were rolling their eyes at the inclusion of synthesizers, but for me, I think it's the missing piece that previous albums didn't have. Thrash metal meets synthpop rock. Iron Jovi. That's what I'm talking about.

If you haven't reached the conclusion yet, Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son was a great album. It's a definite high note to end it all on, and yet, at the same time, sad that I didn't get this from previous records. Frankly, it makes me want to go back and listen to them again and see what I may have missed out of prejudice. Unfortunately, time won't all for that any time soon.

Upheaval soon reared its head for the band. Thing began unknowingly with guitarist Adrian Smith releasing an album with ASAP in 1989, and singer Bruce Dickinson beginning a solo career with Janick Gers on guitar. While all of this was going on, the band celebrated their tenth anniversary with a compilation release.

Returning to the studio for what would become their next album, 1990's No Prayer For The Dying, during pre-production, Smith would quit. It would later be stated that he disagreed with the stripped-down sound that founding member, and bassist, Steve Harris was leaning towards. Dickinson would suggest he be replaced by Gers, who became the first new member in seven years.

Iron Maiden once again joined Monsters Of Rock and were even joined by Smith who made an appearance to perform with the band. However, as things would have it, issues with Dickinson then began occurring. This began with their 1992 album, Fear Of The Dark, where rather than work with Harris on tracks, which he had done in the past, he instead worked with Gers. Feeling creatively restricted, Dickinson would leave the band in 1993.

After listening to thousands of tapes, the band chose Blaze Bayley, formerly of the band Wolfsbane, to fill the spot of lead vocalist. With his different vocal style from Dickinson, the band received mixed criticism for their next two albums, The X Factor (1995), and Virtual XI (1998). Bayley would be asked to leave in 1999 after a series of poor performances. In hindsight, Gers would say that it was the band's fault for expecting him to perform songs outside of his vocal range.

The band met with Dickinson, and negotiated his return, and following this, phoned up Smith, who also rejoined. Rather than ask Gers to leave, Iron Maiden now encompassed three guitarists, who they nicknamed the Three Amigos. Though there have been ups and downs, success has continued for the band with the lineup of Bruce Dickinson, Dave Murray, Adiran Smith, Janick Gers, Steve Harris, and Nicko McBrain. They're continued the legacy of Maiden and released six more albums between 2000 and 2021. While rumors suggest a new album is in the works, nothing has been concretely confirmed.

As for Eddie, the mascot which has appeared on every Maiden album to date, well, he's still around too. He not only remains the face of the band, but as of 2024 has even made the transition to toys from Funko.

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